Cork East Fine Gael TD and Minister of State for Justice, David Stanton, today, launched the Annual Monitoring Report on Integration 2016 at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) in Dublin.

“The 2016 Report provides us with vital information on the outcomes for Ireland’s migrant population in important areas of Irish Life. A number of key EU indicators are used to measure integration in areas such as employment, education, social inclusion and active citizenship.

“We now have people from over 199 countries living in Ireland and the changing ethnic, linguistic and faith-based composition of our population presents many opportunities and challenges to policy-makers, institutions and local communities. It is, therefore, vital that we monitor changes in the circumstances and experiences of migrants over time so that we can respond to their needs and plan successfully for the future and base our policy responses on solid evidence.

“The ESRI’s Integration Monitor provides valuable evidence of progress in the area of migrant integration and and where further action may be needed. It informed the Government’s Migrant Integration Strategy 2017 – 2020 which was recently launched by An Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald TD and I.

Application forms and information on how to apply for various funding streams which aim to promote Migrant Integration is available from the Office of the Promotion of Migrant Integration at www.integration.ie